Well, I went out and reshot yesterday's PAD with much better results - http://www.pbase.com/ed_k/image/63831465 (as compared to yesterday - http://www.pbase.com/image/63778096 ). Yesterday's was way too soft in the foreground. Both were shot at f/32 but today I move the focus point to about 10 ft (about 5 feet beyond the thistles); yesterday it was about i/3 of the way "up the creek".
Rather than going with the same scene two day's in a row, I asked the boss's opinion on some alternatives from this morning's shoots - mostly dahlias from the front yard. We both liked this one.